FOUR NEGLECTED HALLOWEEN STORIES

As Halloween Month rolls along here are four often-overlooked horror stories in the spirit of the season.

masc graveyard smallerA KISS OF JUDAS (1894) – Written by “X.L.” (Julian Osgood Field). Adapted from Moldavian folk tales, this story tells us that the descendants of Judas walk among us. They are evil people with sinister designs on the people they target. At will they can commit suicide and return from the dead. The Judas-Spawn can then approach their terrified victim and plant a “Judas Kiss” on them, which kills them. The Roman numeral XXX (for the Thirty Pieces of Silver) appears on the dead bodies of their victims.

COLD HARBOR (1924) – Written by Francis Brett Young. Cold Harbor is a forbidding old British mansion overlooking the sea. The Wakes, a young doctor and his wife, encounter the mansion’s sinister owner Furnival. Continue reading

17 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season

FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP: OCTOBER 6th

educa smallerIt’s the latest installment of Faculty Lounge Fascist Roundup! It’s no secret that privileged white Democrats aka “baizuos” have distorted the educational system into a partisan “church” of irrational thought and ugly intolerance.

Their discriminatory hiring practices have long been apparent in the number of Democrats vs non-Democrats in the faculty and ESPECIALLY administrative staff. If NON-Democrats were over 90% of the staff at colleges and universities you can bet Democrat elected officials would have looked out for their constituents and addressed that imbalance and bias long ago. WE NEED THIRD PARTIES!

education conveyor belt smallerITEM ONE – Midwestern State University Professor Nathan Jun recently wrote on a social media thread “I want the entire world to burn until the last cop is strangled with the intestines of the last capitalist, who is strangled in turn with the intestines of the last politician.”

As we’ve all seen over and over and over again, people have been hounded from jobs in education and elsewhere for social media posts saying “All lives matter” or “Blue lives matter” or for making any statement of support for political candidates that Democrat fascists dislike. But in this case the university in question hypocritically pretended to care about “free speech.” Click HERE
Continue reading

20 Comments

Filed under Education or Indoctrination, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

SIX RARE HALLOWEEN MONSTERS

Halloween Month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog! Here’s a look at some of the neglected monsters I’ve covered over the years. These horrific figures deserve as much love as the better known characters like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Crying Woman and many others.

Squaw Hollow SensationSETHOS

First Appearance: The Squaw Hollow Sensation (1879)

Cryptid Category: Aztec mummy

Lore: Around the year 800 AD an Aztec scholar named Sethos drank the Draught of the Everlasting Covenant and went into a state of suspended animation. In 1879 mining operations uncovered the tomb where he was hidden away.

A scientist of the era mastered the technique of reviving Sethos and successfully restored him to full life. Sethos’ body was hideously mummified but intact except for a gaping hole in his skull in the middle of his forehead from the experiment to revive him. Continue reading

66 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season

COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM OCTOBER 3rd

NAIA

Northwestern College Red RaidersSHOOTOUT IN IOWA – The NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS took it on the road to face the DORDT COLLEGE DEFENDERS yesterday. The Red Raiders grabbed a 14-0 lead before the Defenders made it a 14-7 game by the end of the 1st Quarter. That became a 28-21 Northwestern College lead at Halftime and 42-30 in the 3rd Quarter. From there the Red Raiders held on to win it 48-40.

Dakota Wesleyan Tigers helmet NEWTIGER ON TIGER VIOLENCE – The DAKOTA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY BLUE TIGERS visited the DOANE COLLEGE TIGERS. A 7-0 1st Quarter edge for the Blue Tigers was cut to 14-13 by the Half. Dakota Wesleyan went up 21-13 in the 3rd Quarter then held on against a furious Tigers rally in the 4th to get off the schneid 29-26.

Baker U Wildcats helmetUNHAPPY HOMECOMINGS – The BAKER UNIVERSITY WILDCATS ruined Homecoming for the CLARKE UNIVERSITY PRIDE by obliterating them 57-3   ###   Meanwhile the AVILA UNIVERSITY EAGLES (formerly the Avalanche) won a 41-6 game at the BETHANY COLLEGE SWEDES   ###   And the WALDORF COLLEGE WARRIORS handed the DAKOTA STATE TROJANS a 20-14 Homecoming loss. Continue reading

28 Comments

Filed under college football

BLACK DEMOCRAT LAWMAKER BERNADINE KENNEDY KENT ENDORSES TRUMP

Bernadine Kennedy KentDemocrat lawmaker and Martin Luther King Person of Courage Bernadine Kennedy Kent was the latest disillusioned Democrat of color to endorse de facto Third Party President Donald Trump for reelection. The link is below but first some excerpts:

“Kent said in her endorsement that her “values truly align with President Donald J. Trump’s willingness to work with those of differing opinions and perspectives more so than with Joe Biden’s divisive rhetoric, promotion of mass incarceration, and disrespectful, insensitive ideologies.”

“President Trump has provided a record number of Black Americans with a real shot at the American dream,” Kent continued. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Black Americans have experienced record-low unemployment and the poverty rate among the black community has fallen to its lowest level in U.S. history. “

“A large part of this success is due to President Trump’s willingness to listen to the ideas of Senator Tim Scott and the concerns of invested citizens from diverse communities in economic distress. This effort produced a groundbreaking solution called ‘Opportunity Zones,’ a way to create jobs and spur investment in disadvantaged communities. We all recognize that gainful employment and economic development is the best deterrent against violence and social unrest, so I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to ensuring the success of the Black community in every way.”

Trump democrats billboard“She went on to note President Trump’s support of Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Continue reading

26 Comments

Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

THE SUPERHERO PANTHEON OF GREAT PUBLICATIONS

Superhero cosplay has begun to rival and even exceed monster cosplay at Halloween time. Here’s another forgotten pantheon of superheroes.

Fire Eater 2FIRE-EATER

Secret Identity: Mike O’Malley

First Appearance: Choice Comics #1 (December 1941)

Origin: Circus performer Mike O’Malley devised special pills that gave him superpowers then set out to fight crime as the superhero called Fire-Eater.

Fire EaterPowers: Fire-Eater, as his name would imply, could “eat” and suck in large flames as well as blow fire-blasts from his mouth. He was also impervious to fire and was skilled at unarmed combat.

Comment: This hero performed his circus tricks AND fought crime under his masked identity. As Mike O’Malley he kept a low profile and had a girlfriend named Louise Peters, the Head Nurse at State Hospital.

Madame StrangeMADAME STRANGE

Secret Identity: Never revealed

First Appearance: Great Comics #1 (November 1941)

Origin: Scientifically developed to fight spies and other forces of evil, Madame Strange went on missions to safeguard America.

She often traveled under the guise of a reporter.

Madame Strange 2Powers: Madame Strange was strong enough to rip iron bars out of a jail cell’s window, was bullet-proof and could run at greater than human speed. She was also an expert at unarmed combat and was skilled with a riding crop AND at knife-throwing. In addition this superheroine had her own personal plane from which she could drop bombs.

Comment: In her very first story Madame Strange was already a well-known figure. She stopped a ring of Imperial Japanese agents from sabotaging Pearl Harbor, eerily prescient since this would have been written just a few months before the real-life attack on that naval station. Continue reading

23 Comments

Filed under Superheroes

THE MONKS OF MONK HALL (1844-1845)

As Halloween Month continues, Balladeer’s Blog looks at a neglected work of American horror.

Monks of Monk Hall

THE MONKS OF MONK HALL aka THE QUAKER CITY (1844-1845) – Written by George Lippard, this strange and macabre story was originally serialized from 1844-1845 before being published in novel form. This bloody, horrific work was America’s best-selling novel before Uncle Tom’s Cabin

I always refer to this book as “Twin Peaks Goes To The 1840s.” On one level The Monks of Monk Hall deals with crime, corruption, drugs and sex-trafficking among many supposedly “respectable” citizens of Philadelphia the way Twin Peaks did with residents of the title town.

On another level the novel deals with supernatural horrors that lurk behind the Quaker City’s murders, vices and sexual perversions, again like the David Lynch series. The center of the darkness is Monk Hall, an old, sprawling mansion with an unsavory history and reputation. Many have disappeared into the bowels of the building, never to be seen again. The power players and criminals who mingle at the Hall in bizarre orgies, secret murders and drunken debauches are known as “Monks” – Monk Hall’s exclusive membership.

Monks of Monk Hall 4

Think of Monk Hall as a combination of Twin Peaks establishments like the Black Lodge, One-Eyed Jacks and the Great Northern all rolled into one. The vast, multi-roomed Hall is honey-combed with secret passageways and trap doors. Beneath the mansion are a subterranean river plus several levels of labyrinthine catacombs filled with rats, refuse and the skeletal remains of the Monks’ many victims from the past century and a half.   

The sinister staff of Monk Hall are happy to provide their members with all the sex, opium and other diversions that they hunger for behind their public veil of respectability. Throw in the occult practices of the members and there’s a sort of “American version of Sir Francis Dashwood’s Hellfire Club” feel to it. Among the novel’s more horrific characters:

Monks of Monk Hall 2

DEVIL-BUG – The deformed, depraved and deranged bastard offspring of one of Monk Hall’s members and one of the many prostitutes who are literally enslaved there. Devil-Bug has spent his entire life in the Hall and has no other name. He is squat, incredibly strong and grotesquely ugly with one large gaping eye and one small, withered, empty socket on his face.

This monstrosity works as Monk Hall’s combination door-man, bouncer and executioner, gleefully murdering on demand and secreting the corpses away in the sub-basements beneath the mansion. Just to make him even more unwholesome, Devil-Bug sleeps next to the corpse of one of his victims and uses occupied coffins as furniture in his creepy rooms.

Monks of Monk Hall 3

RAVONI – Interchangeably referred to as a sorcerer, mad doctor, astrologer and anatomist, this handsome but sinister man pulls the strings behind the supernatural evils of Philadelphia and vicinity.

Master of an occult method of eternal youth, Ravoni has been alive for over two hundred years. (The novel repeatedly says just two hundred years, but the villain refers to having been present at the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which happened in 1572, so it has to be longer)

Ravoni has powers of mesmerism, prognostication and can even raise the dead. He was the original owner of Monk Hall under another name long ago. Readers eventually learn the kind of dark rituals the man performed at the Hall but don’t learn the full extent of his evil plans until the climax of the novel.         

Continue reading

31 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season

EVEN CNN REPORTERS HAVE ADMITTED TRUMP HAS CONDEMNED WHITE SUPREMACISTS AND DID SO YEARS AGO

Democrats KKKThe latest Gallup Poll revealed that a record high percent of Americans (33%) have ZERO trust in the media. Exhibit A regarding why may be the way that no matter how many times de facto Third Party President Donald Trump has condemned white supremacists the Democrats and their media outlets keep pretending he hasn’t and when he points out that he has done this over and over the media lies further and STILL claim that he refuses to condemn white supremacists.

Trump never called racist til running against DemocratsSenile, corrupt and clearly clueless Joe Biden should be forced to condemn rioting and Antifa (which really exists, Demented Joe) OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, TOO.

PLUS DON’T FALL INTO THE MEDIA’S TRAP ON THIS ISSUE – DEMOCRATS AND THEIR MEDIA OUTLETS LABEL JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY WHITE SUPREMACISTS THESE DAYS. President Trump has to walk a fine line so that he’s not condemning a group arbitrarily accused of being “white supremacists.”

trump rosa parks and muhammad aliAccording to Democrats, signers of the Declaration of Independence were all “White Supremacists” so if Democrats call on Trump to condemn THEM and he refuses will the media start ANOTHER round of this “Trump refuses to condemn white supremacists” nonsense? If you foolishly go by the Democrats’ word for who is a white supremacist then just remember this  –  it’s likely YOU TOO are labeled a white supremacist by them.

Anyway from May of last year EVEN CNN STAFF were admitting that Trump had condemned white supremacists and had NOT described them as “fine people” but Democrats are gonna Democrat, so they keep on lying about it. Here’s that story again with links: (It’s like the “Kids in Cages” lies even though the cages started under Obama.)

THE PICTURE IS JOE IN 2019, NOT THE TREMBLING, DECREPIT WRECK HE IS NOW. 

biden two gun pose“When even some reporters at the Democrat media outlet CNN realize that the lies Democrats tell about President Trump’s Charlottesville remarks have been exposed you’d think Joe Biden would know better than to try peddling them.

Or maybe not. The reason so many of us former Democrats decided to #WALKAWAY is because being a Democrat now means lying on a daily basis.

At any rate CNN’s Jake Tapper and Steve Cortes called out the lies Biden was throwing around about President Trump’s remarks about Charlottesville last year. Trump NEVER called hatemongers like Nazis and Klansmen “fine people.” The “very fine people on both sides” remark clearly referred to there being fine people on both sides of the public debate regarding old war monuments and on what happened at Charlottesville.

#WalkAwayDemocrats and their media outlets have been trying to sell their lies about Trump’s remarks ever since then, with Crazy Joe Biden even perpetuating that lie when he joined 9,783 other Democrats in the presidential race.

Anyway, as even veteran Trump-hater Jake Tapper had to admit:

“Now, elsewhere in those remarks, Trump did condemn neo-Nazis and white supremacists. So he’s not saying that the neo-Nazis and white supremacists are very fine people.”

That rare moment of honesty from Tapper was good to see, but the way so many Democrats continue pushing that lie wins stronger support for Trump among his supporters and people on the fence. As the now-cliché goes about Democrats’ dishonest attacks on the President, “Do you want more Trump? Because THIS is how you get more Trump.” 

Among the many sources where you can verify that President Trump clearly condemned the Neo-Nazis, Antifa Fascists and Neo-Klansmen and did NOT call them “fine people”: Continue reading

9 Comments

Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

TALES OF HOFFMANN: A HALLOWEEN OPERA

Halloween month is here! As usual the next 31 days will be filled with my usual topics PLUS neglected horror films, novels, operas, etc.

Tales of Hoffmann

Tales of Hoffmann

TALES OF HOFFMANN (1881) – Yes, as if I wasn’t boring enough already I’m also into opera! Now, I know traditionally “the” Halloween Opera has always been Don Giovanni , but I’ve never bought into that notion since there’s really only one scene in the whole opera that qualifies as spooky and supernatural.

At this time of year I prefer Offenbach’s Tales Of Hoffmann. Not only is it full of appropriately eerie and menacing elements, but it’s also the perfect opera for you to share with someone who’s seeing their very first opera.

One of the reasons for that is that it’s in short segments, surrounded by a wraparound opening and finale. Offenbach adapts short stories written by E.T.A. Hoffmann, who in real life was a pre-Edgar Alan Poe author of eerie short stories in his native Austria during the 1800s. At any rate since this opera’s in short segments novices to the artform won’t have time to get bored.

Another reason is that, though the climax of these tales no doubt seemed shocking to the people of Hoffmann’s (or for that matter, Offenbach’s) time period, modern audiences are so used to anthology series’ like The Twilight Zone and Tales From The Crypt, etc that today’s viewers will spot the “twist” endings coming from a mile away. This combats another common complaint of opera novices: that they have trouble following the story. Continue reading

33 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season

FOOL KILLER FORTY-NINE: SEPTEMBER 1911

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT IN THE 1850s, CLICK HERE 

Fool Killer illustrationPART FORTY-NINE: Some of the Fool Killer’s targets in the September of 1911 issue of James Larkin Pearson’s Fool-Killer publication:

*** Standard Oil. The Fool Killer in various incarnations fought the Standard Oil monopoly more than anyone outside of Ida Tarbell. The Fool Killer was already predicting the way Standard Oil would continue trying to subvert anti-trust laws through shell corporations.

*** Henry Clay Beattie, Jr, a wealthy Virginian who shot his wife Louise to death during a car ride then tried to blame it on a highway bandit. The truth came out and Beattie eventually confessed after a media circus of a trial. The Fool Killer also targeted the media circus surrounding the trial.

*** A gang of wild partyers in Hagerstown, MD who caused a nationwide scandal with their dancing and drinking blowout in a cemetery.

*** Samuel Gompers, whom the Fool Killer accused of starting to sell out to big-money and management over his former allies in labor. Continue reading

29 Comments

Filed under Mythology, Neglected History